Thursday, February 24, 2011

A Belgian gay couple whose baby son was stranded in Ukraine for two years expect to be reunited with him soon.

Peter Meurrens and Laurent Ghilain had baby Samuel by surrogate in 2009 but red tape meant they could not bring him home.

The married couple have spent $125,000 trying to get the 28-month-old home, even resorting to trying to get him across the Ukrainian border with a fake passport.

Mr Meurrens told Associated Press that Samuel was issued a Belgian passport on Monday and they expect to regain custody of him at the weekend.

The baby has been living in an orphanage in Ukraine after bureaucrats decided he was not entitled to a passport, despite Mr Ghilain being his biological father.

The Belgian foreign ministry issued the document after a court ruling.

The couple decided to use a surrogate in Ukraine after failing to find a surrogate in Belgium.

They say they were reassured by Belgian authorities that there would no problems around taking their child home but believe homophobia contributed to their struggle.

Mr Meurrens said: “For the last two years, almost every month there was somebody telling us … it will take only one week and then he will be with you. Finally, I am starting to believe I will see him in a few days.”